By DBanjulist,
Shortage of Judges at the Gambia High court is reportedly crippling the entire justice system. Several judges have resigned from their positions mainly due to fear of backlash from the Jammeh administration. This shortage has been slowly building for the past five months, since the firing of the Pakistani born Chief Justice Ali Nawad Chowhan. Senior judges of the High court Raymond Sock and Gibou Janneh were both sacked for no apparent reason. Despite laid-down procedures for the removal of judges from office as clearly spelled out in the Gambian Constitution President Jammeh ignores these stipulations and remove judges as he wishes.
Several cases are reportedly stalling in the high court and cannot be brought to hearing due to lack of judges. The appeal case of Amadou Sanneh which was postponed several occasions for absent of judges is a clear example of how the shortage is affecting the Gambian Justice system.
In addition to unceremonious removal of judges and magistrates some young Gambian magistrates who have excelled in the system resigned to search for other opportunities. Magistrate Dawda Jallow was the latest to depart from the bench and went to explore other opportunities. Magistrate Ebrima Jaiteh of the Brikama Magistrate court was also recently arrested and charge with negligence of office duties which is alleged to have been linked to a case he rule against the administration. He was subsequently dismissed from the service without due process.
This acute shortage of judges is beginning to have serious effect on the effectiveness of the judiciary. Many of the judges were foreign nationals who were more willing to heed to executive interference with the justice system. It happens that they too have not been spared from the brunt of the dictatorship in the Gambia. Former Chief Justice Joseph Wowo was convicted of abuse of office and fraud and sentenced to two years in jail before being granted pardon by the President. He has reportedly returned to his native country to escape from subsequent arrest which is a norm in the Jammeh administration.
Currently there are three judges on the Supreme court which is far less than the constitutional stipulation on the number of judges that should occupy the supreme court. According to Section 125 of the Constitution “the Supreme Court of The Gambia shall be constituted by an uneven number of not less than five judges of the court.”
Another judge who recently left the court is Justice Emmanuel Amadi who has also left the country. There was no reason given for his departure. As a result of this latest departure several cases continue to be pending at the high court even though judicial vacations has ended since October. Many citizens are unreasonably being remanded due to lack of judges and magistrates to preside over cases.
Several examples of high profile cases lingering in court include the case of 9 senior fisheries officials who are on bail, example former Works Minister Ousman Badjie on bail and Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay, Managing Director of Taranga FM radio are few of the cases currently stalling in court. The radio journalist is still languishing in jail for over 4 months without bail. The case of Ebrima Jawara, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and colleagues has also not proceeded on the last adjourned date due to lack of a judge. The situation is dire but neither the current Chief Justice nor the attorney General seems to be bothered about the situation. As the saying goes justice delayed is justice denied and Gambian citizens are being denied due process mainly due to incompetence of the administration.